Burgeoning crisis of federalism

No matter that these forces seek change for the sake of preserving the system. They point to a glaring democratic deficit in the constitution and political framework of modern Australia.

The political centralisation that has occurred without the say-so of the mass of the population is allowing the Howard Government to run roughshod over democracy in areas such as Aboriginal rights, industrial relations, health, water, education, energy, taxation and our legal rights.

Democratic socialists must look much further than a tinkering with the system and seeking piecemeal reform while extolling the virtues of some far distant socialism. We seek the widest democratic space possible for the working class to organise for concrete socialisation and democratic change from below in the here and now.

Is centralisation bad? Well, it depends who it is for and how it is achieved.

In general, socialists support centralisation of administration, but only on the basis of it being democratic and accountable. That means while administration can be centralised under democratic control, delivery and accountability needs to be decentralised. What Howard has achieved is anathema to such an approach. Socialists should fight for the abolition of the states, centralisation of democratic decision making while pushing for the decentralisation of delivery and accountability.

But we must go much further.

Democratic socialists must demand a constitutional convention, we should campaign for it, but not a limited convention as proposed by the premiers or the Business Council of Australia. The workers’ movement should campaign for a constitutional convention with full powers to rewrite the constitution.

Democratic socialists should campaign for a constitution that includes:

• abolition of the monarchy system and its constitution, including presidentialism, its undemocratic offspring;
• election by full proportional representation to a single legislative and executive chamber;
• annual parliaments where MPs can be recalled and are paid no more than the average skilled wage;
• abolition of the senate, which becomes obsolete with proportional representation;
• abolition of the states and introduction of strong regional-local government.

In addition a democratic constitution must guarantee the rights of its citizens. To this end we need:

• a treaty with Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, reparations for lost lands and comprehensive land rights;
• a bill of rights;
• full citizenship rights for migrants and refugees;
• the right to work and the right to strike;
• an end to secrecy in government and business;
• workers' supervision of management through workplace councils.

The burning issue today is defence of Indigenous Australia and tying this defence to a change in Australia’s political framework. The failure of mainstream Australia to honestly come to terms with its colonial past is a deep scar in our national psyche; it is central to the democratic deficit we face as a nation.

The struggle for a democratic constitution is not an abstraction from the day-to-day struggle for meaningful reform. Central to it is the fight for a meaningful treaty with Indigenous Australia. That will involve a process of genuine treaty negotiations, genuine land rights, Indigenous autonomy, meaningful investment in Aboriginal housing and health, reparations for lost land and the emergence of a democratic republic in Australia.

The left cannot carp about the appalling hypocrisy of Howard and the pale echo from Rudd, it needs positive political solutions.